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Greg Byrne congratulates Sean Miller on his 100th win as Arizona’s coach two seasons ago. Miller goes for his 300th career victory tonight. (YouTube video capture)
SEAN MILLER (299-103, 12TH YEAR) MILESTONES
WIN NO. 1: Xavier over Oakland, 69-58, Nov. 19, 2004, Cintas Center, Cincinnati.
WIN NO. 50: Xavier over Fordham, 71-56, Jan. 11, 2007, Rose Hill Gym, The Bronx, N.Y.
WIN NO. 100: Xavier over Auburn, 81-74, Dec. 3, 2008, Cintas Center, Cincinnati
WIN NO. 150: Arizona over Stanford, 67-57, Jan. 9, 2011, McKale Center, Tucson
WIN NO. 200: Arizona over Miami, 69-50, Dec. 23, 2012, Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu
WIN NO. 250: Arizona over Mount St. Mary’s, 78-55, Nov. 14, 2014, McKale Center, Tucson
— Sean Miller holds a tight 7-6 edge over Oregon’s Dana Altman dating to their days of coaching against each other while with Xavier and Creighton, respectively. Arizona’s three-game winning streak against the Ducks gives him a 6-3 record against Altman since Altman took the Oregon job in 2010-11. Altman was 3-1 against Miller in the mid-major Creighton-Xavier rivalry. Miller’s fourth game in his first season as coach at Xavier in 2004 was a 73-72 loss to Creighton. Altman also beat Miller 61-59 in 2005 and 73-67 in 2006 before Xavier beat Creighton 79-66 in 2007. …
— By the time Lute Olson earned his 300th career win, he was starting his 15th season as a head coach. He achieved that mark in Arizona’s season-opening win over New Mexico in the 1988-89 season, the season after the Wildcats made their first Final Four appearance and were upset by the Lobos at The Pit as the No. 1-ranked team. Harvey Mason Jr., father of Arizona walk-on guard Trey Mason, scored a career-high 20 points in that game. Arizona will attempt to give Sean Miller, in his 12th season, his 300th career win tonight against the Ducks. Mike Krzyzewski also achieved his 300th victory in his 15th season like Olson. Krzyzewski was only 43 while Miller is 47. Olson was 54 by the time he reached his 300th win. …
— Former Arizona commit Tyler Dorsey, who is averaging a team-best 14.8 points a game, gets his first crack against Miller and the Wildcats tonight. He de-committed from the Wildcats soon after Arizona received a commitment from Justin Simon in 2014. Dorsey reportedly was recruited by Miller and Arizona since he was in the eighth grade. “Tyler is an outstanding player,” Miller said this week. “He can handle the ball, pass it and he has a great-looking three-point shot. He is an elite shooter with a quick release and good size.” …
— Arizona has the size advantage on the frontcourt starting 6’9″ Ryan Anderson and Mark Tollefsen along with 7’0″ center Kaleb Tarczewski with 7’0″ post player Dusan Ristic coming off the bench. Oregon counters with 6’10” center Chris Boucher and 6’6″ forwards Elgin Cook and Dillon Brooks in the starting lineup. Arizona has a plus-11.8 margin in rebounding a game while Oregon is at plus-3.8. What Arizona must be concerned about is Oregon’s speed advantage. The Ducks have proven to be quicker to the ball with their 6.3 blocks per game compared to Arizona’s 4.3 mark despite the size disparity. Oregon also averages 7.6 steals per game while Arizona is at 5.6 per game. …
— How is it that Oregon has the same record as Arizona — 16-4 — with a higher RPI — No. 5 vs. No. 29 — and the Ducks are ranked No. 23 and Arizona is No. 18? Based on the strength of the conference, both teams should at least be in the top 20. They should just do away with the poll. …
— In its record book, the NCAA only lists schools with at least 67 consecutive home victories. Arizona is the only school that shows up twice with 81 at Bear Down Gym from 1945-51 and 71 at McKale Center from 1987-92. A win tonight would likely mean Arizona is the only program with three homecourt winning streaks of at least 50 games. Given these streaks, historically, playing against Arizona in Tucson must rank among the top five most difficult places to win. Kentucky, Kansas and Duke are right up there also. …
— If Arizona beats Oregon, UCLA defeats Washington and USC takes care of last-place Washington State tonight, all good possibilities with the Wildcats, Bruins and Trojans playing at home, six teams can be tied for first place with 5-3 records. Those teams would be Arizona, Oregon, Washington, USC, Utah and Colorado. UCLA, Cal and Stanford would be close behind at 4-4. Oregon State (3-4) can join the party with a win at ASU. …
— Arizona’s offense has shown to be more efficient than Oregon’s through 20 games. Each team has played that many games with the Ducks attempting 1,164 field goals, only six more than Arizona’s total. The Wildcats have made 571 of their attempts compared to 543 for Oregon. The Ducks have also attempted 66 more three-pointers than Arizona (391 vs. 325) and have made 134 compared to Arizona’s 123 …
— Interesting to note that Arizona is tied with Oregon State for the best three-point percentage defense in Pac-12 allowing only 30.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. It’s the tremendous individual performances from that range that Arizona must guard against, i.e. Bryce Alford of UCLA (5 of 11), Elijah Stewart of USC (5 of 8) and Jordan Mathews of Cal (6 of 12). In Arizona’s three losses, those standouts combined to shoot 16 of 31 (51.6 percent) from three-point range. …
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NO. 18 ARIZONA (16-4, 4-3) VS.
No. 23 Oregon (16-4, 5-2)
Tip Time: 7:05 p.m. MST
TV: ESPN (Dave Pasch/Bill Walton)
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network (Brian Jeffries/Ryan Hansen)
THE SERIES
Overall: Arizona leads 49-26
In Tucson: Arizona leads 29-7
Current Streak: Arizona won 3
Last Meeting: Arizona won 80-52 in Las Vegas (3-14-15)
Sean Miller vs. Oregon: 8-3
WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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PRODUCTIVITY REPORT
ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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Previous result:
CAL 74, ARIZONA 73
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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ARIZONA’S TOP SCORING CENTERS
Rank: Overall school ranking.
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As I tweeted Mon, Oregon has duck statue while UA doesn't have one of Olson outside McKale? https://t.co/PiaC12RwDJ pic.twitter.com/qezFQRFf39
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 28, 2016
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HOW ARE THEY DOING?
Present RPI ranking of non-conference opponents Arizona has played according to KenPom.com.
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PAC-12 POMEROY RATINGS
Present RPI ranking of Pac-12 teams according to KenPom.com.
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Reliving McKale-record 71-game win streak w/UA at 49. Williams/Rooks big in UA reaching 49. https://t.co/4j1zDDet0U pic.twitter.com/I5BrBbtd3o
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 28, 2016
THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS CAREER
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Good Luck tonight @APlayersProgram #Beardown
— TJ McConnell (@iPass4Zona) January 28, 2016
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
*-John Wooden Legacy in Fullerton/Anaheim (Calif.)
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
